LibGuides: British Imperial History, 1600-1900: Diplomatic and Military Correspondence

Collections & Catalogue Items

The Rubenstein Library holds a number of collections related to British diplomats serving in various posts in and around Europe, primarily from the late eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries. The papers in these collections (organized by date) represent valuable glimpses into the everyday lives of these diplomats and their families as well as how these men pursued British interests abroad. They also include descriptions of politics and culture in different regions and states around the world, including Eastern Europe, Latin America, Egypt and China.

Diplomatic Dispatches (Spain), 1717-1738
George Bubb Doddington was the British ambassador in Spain in the decades after the global War of the Spanish Succession. This series of dispatches from his time in Madrid primarily focuses on politics within continental Europe but also includes a treatise by Doddington on the long-standing British-Spanish rivalry in the Atlantic.
John Backhouse Papers, 1740-1956
John Backhouse served multiple positions within the British government as both a diplomat and civil servant, including as Under-Secretary of State and Commissioner and Receiver General of the Excise Office. This collection contains correspondence and papers relating to Backhouse’s political career and also includes papers and diaries from family members, such as Backhouse’s son and daughter-in-law who lived in Havana.
George Thomas Staunton Papers, 1743-1885
This collection primarily contains correspondence to and from George Thomas Staunton and his father George Leonard Staunton. The younger Staunton served at the East India Company’s Factory in Canton, and many of his letters describe his experiences there, in addition to his travels and service in India and Europe. The collection also includes some of George Thomas Staunton’s diaries.
Bandinel Family Papers, 1763-1940; (bulk 1763-1906)
This collection of papers includes correspondence by various members of the Bandinel family who served as diplomats in China and Scandinavia. Other issues touched upon include the abolition movement in Britain; the family’s various commercial endeavours; and the Church of England.
Robert Adair Papers, 1763-1855
Most of this collection relates to Adair’s service as British envoy to Vienna in 1806.
Perkins Magra Papers, 1768-1830
Perkins Magra served as a the British consul in Tunis and this collection provides a window into British interests and activities in the Mediterranean, including the issue of piracy, the demands of the navy, and diplomacy with other polities in the region, such as Portugal.
Auckland Papers, 1772-1804
This collection primary consists of letters written by Baron William Eden Auckland to the British secretary of state during his time as Ambassador to the Netherlands.
James Gadsen Papers, 1788-1858
The Gadsden papers include some documents relating to British strategy during the American Revolutionary War, but the bulk of collection relates to the Gadsden Purchase in 1854, when James Gadsden served as the U.S. foreign minister to Mexico.
Colquhoun Family Papers, 1792-1916, bulk 1839-1862
A major series within this collection includes correspondence from Sir Patrick MacChombaich Colquhoun while he was concluding commercial treaties with Turkey, Persia, and Greece as Secretary of Legation. The Colquhoun famiy also operated a private trading firm that conducted business in the Caribbean, and there are some letters in the collection addressing that as well.
Henry and Mary Hayne Papers, 1797-1828
Henry Hayne acted as private secretary to Lord William Pitt Amherst, who led the Second British Embassy to China in 1816. This collection contains Hayne's diaries from the voyage of the embassy on the H.M.S. Alceste, and includes descriptions of their travels in Madeiras Islands, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, and various cities in the Chinese Empire including Guangzhou, Macau, Manila, Peking (Beijing), and Nanjing.
George Canning Papers, 1797-1827
Canning was a British politician who served in multiple cabinet positions in the early nineteenth century. These letters address British foreign policy with Greece and France.
Charles Arbuthnot Letters, 1804-1807
Charles Arbuthnot served as the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1804-1807, and this collection consists of letters he wrote to the British Foreign Office while on assignment in Constantinople.
Henry Richard Vassall, Baron Holland, papers, 1806-1852
This collection primarily consists of letters addressed to Baron Holland (who served in multiple positions within the British government in the first half of the nineteenth century) from the British ambassador in Paris, in addition to some other Holland family correspondence.
Collingwood Papers, 1807-1809
Baron Cuthbert Collingwood was an admiral in the Royal Navy. This collection of two letters discusses British political affairs in the Mediterranean.
Malet Family papers, 1808-1937
The papers of the Malet family span the dates 1808-1937, with most of the papers being dated between 1824 and 1908. The papers consist chiefly of correspondence among members of the Malet family and address British diplomacy in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and East Asia. One of the larger series within the collection is the correpondence of Queen Sophia of the Netherlands to Lady Malet which features extensive discussion of European politics in the mid-nineteenth century
William John Hamilton letters, 1827-1828
This collection consists of letters by Hamilton to family members, describing his stay in Paris and his journey through France to the British embassy in Madrid.
John Bowring Papers, 1833-1904; (bulk 1849-1859)
Personal correspondence from Bowring’s time as governor of Hong Kong, featuring Britain’s relationship with China.
Graham Eden Papers, 1834-1836
This collection touches on Britain’s relationship with Brazil in the 1830’s, with letters addressed to Sir Graham Eden (current Commander in Chief of British naval forces in Latin America) from the consul in Rio de Janeiro.
John Fane Papers, 1837-1876
The 11th Earl of Westmoreland served as a military officer in the British army and royal ambassador through the mid-nineteenth century. This collection includes correspondence with other major figures in British politics at the time, including several prime ministers, and primarily focuses on British diplomacy wth France and Austria.
James Macqueen Papers, 1839
This collection primarily consists of Macqueen’s Geographical Survey of Africa, which includes his recommendations for British treaty-making with local African polities. Macqueen was a British businessman who argued for the colonization of Africa.
Henry Oakeley Naval Service Journal and Commonplace Book, 1840-1855, 1917
Oakeley’s journal records his experiences as officer on various naval missions and expeditions throughout his career, including an expedition to the Antarctic Ocean (1840-1843), a mission to suppress the slave trade along the West African Coast (1844-1847) and a sojourn in Rio de Janeiro (1853-1855). The collection also includes photographs, records of payments made to his wife, magazine clippings, and lists of ship provisions, among other records.
Edgar Alfred Bowring Journals, 1841-1857
Edgar Bowring was a British civil servant in the mid-nineteenth century. This collection touches on the Crimean War and British foreign policy in China, among other issues related to British politics and trade.
Logs of H.M.S. Imaum, Fisgard, Waterwitch, Sampson, Victory, 1850-1852
These log books contain daily entries detailing life aboard various British navy ships along the West African coast
Baron Dalling and Bulwer Papers, 1850-1853 and n.d.
Henry Bulwer served as British ambassador to the United States in the 1850’s. This collection consists of his papers from that period and touch on the Compromise of 1850, the presidential election of 1852, slavery, and the colonization of freed slaves.
Sir Harry Parkes Papers, 1853-1872
Sir Harry Parkes served as a British diplomat to both China and Japan in the latter-half of the nineteenth century. This collection includes material from his time in both empires.
Henry George Austin Vicars Diaries, 1853-1865
Henry George Austin Vicars was a British Army officer stationed in India in the 1850s and 1860s. Entries discuss his daily routine, the weather, his amusements and engagements, his clothing, his friends and fellow officers, his travels with the army, news and rumors he has heard, sermons and other church services he attended, and his home leave in London.
George Frederick Samuel Robinson Correspondence, 1855-1907
George Frederick Samuel Robinson was the first Marquess of Bolton and served multiple positions as both a civil servant and diplomat in British government during the 1850’s and 1860’s, such as the Governor-General of India, Under-Secretary for War, and as an envoy to the United States.
Augustus William Frederick Spencer Loftus Papers, 1855-1892 and undated
These papers primarily relate to Loftus’s service as a British diplomat in Vienna, Munich, Berlin, and St. Petersburg and as governor of New South Wales and Norfolk Island in Australia.
Frederick W. A. Bruce Papers, 1860
This collection, containg mostly letters written by Bruce to the British Secretary of State, addresses the contested negotiations for the Treaty of Tianjian (1858), which would open up Chinese ports to foreign trade with Britain. The intermittent Opium Wars (1839-1860) provide the backdrop for these negotiations.
Charles Algernon Littleton Papers, 1861-1906
This collection consists of four journals by Charles Littleton, a British naval commander, during his travels along the western coast of Africa, the Falkland Islands, and the Atlantic coast of South America. The diaries include descriptions of life aboard ship and interactions with local Indigenous people, as well as Littleton’s impression of British rule in Africa.

British Imperial History, 1600-1900

Collections & Catalogue Items

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